Venezuela openly tells ICJ it will ignore its ruling on border case

…acting President flaunts brooch with Guyana’s Essequibo at ICJ

Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodrigues yesterday stood in defiance of the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction in the case with Guyana on the 1899 Arbitral Award saying that not only will Caracas reject a ruling but it believes that one will inflame tensions rather than resolve them.
On the last day of oral arguments in the merits hearings at the United Nations top court, the Acting President said that Venezuela wants a “Political and negotiated solution”, as she echoed her counsel arguments that the 1899 Award was invalid, the 1897 Arbitration Treaty flawed, and that the Geneva Agreement of 1966 remains the only legitimate framework they would use for any resolve.
“Venezuela has never consented to submit the territorial dispute over Guyana Esequiba to the jurisdiction of this Court,” Rodriguez, clad in a white suit and donning a brooch of Venezuela with Guyana’s Essequibo on it told the World court.
The last speaker for her country, she reminded that her remarks underscore Caracas’ longstanding position that the ICJ lacks jurisdiction over the case which Guyana insists was definitively settled.
“This Court was created to resolve conflicts, not to encourage them. Only a political and negotiated solution to the territorial dispute can lay a solid and stable foundation for good neighbourliness, cooperation, shared economic development, and the promotion of secure investment in the region,” she said.
“Venezuela will never endorse a violation of the Geneva Agreement and international law. To validate a ruling that seeks to disregard a legal instrument that is in force and has been duly deposited with the United Nations would run counter to the international legal order. Even if the Court were to declare the award invalid, Venezuela would be unable to comply with such a ruling, as it would also be nullifying the Geneva Agreement and international law,” she added.
Rodriguez pointed to the 2023 referendum on Essequibo her country held under the rule of Nicholas Maduro and in defiance of ICJ measures, as she emphasized her countries position.
“On 3 December 2023, our people turned out in large numbers at the polls and gave us a series of clear and unequivocal mandates. Allow me to highlight the following: First, to maintain the historic position of not submitting their existential matters, such as independence and territorial integrity, to judicial mechanisms. Second, to uphold the Geneva Agreement as the only valid legal instrument for resolving the territorial dispute over Guyana Esequiba. Third, to defend the territory of Guyana Esequiba by all peaceful means, in accordance with international law. True to those mandates, I stand before you this afternoon,” she declared.
Branding the 1899 Award as not a triumph of law, she expressed that “it was a colonial imposition dressed in legal form” and that “Venezuela was coerced, deceived, and stripped of its territory.”
Rodriguez emphasized that Venezuela’s position was not about rejecting international law but about demanding justice. “We are here not to deny law, but to affirm it. The Geneva Agreement is our compass. It is the only instrument that defines the rights and obligations of Guyana and Venezuela.”
Repeatedly returning to the Geneva Agreement of 1966, she portrayed it as the legitimate framework for resolving the controversy. “The Geneva Agreement is not a relic,” she said. “It is a living pact, born of decolonization, designed to ensure that negotiation and dialogue prevail over imposition and fraud.”
And where Guyana had last week recommended that the court also instruct ‘Venezuela to refrain from asserting or purporting to exercise sovereignty over any part of Guyana’s territory; revoke all measures, including laws, decrees and acts that purport to annex, administer, or control any part of Guyana’s territory; and dissolve entities such as the High Commission for the Defence of Guyana Esequiba and terminate military or administrative activities in Guyana’s territory,’ Rodrigues said that is seeking to erase Venezuelan history:
“This Court is being asked to order the destruction of maps, prohibit the teaching of history, eliminate symbols, and tear Guyana Esequiba from the hearts of Venezuelans,” she said.
Venezuela, its interim President noted, sent her to The Hague to show that it takes the matter seriously but maintained that Guyana’s argument that the 1899 Award is the finality and settled the boundary was false. “We reject the idea that sovereignty can be decided by a tribunal that went rogue, ignoring its mandate and striking a political deal,” she said.
Venezuela’s Agent, Samuel Reinaldo Moncada had used most of his Acting President’s arguments in his closing remarks. “The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela respectfully reiterates its requests to the Court to abstain from intervening… and consequently, refuse to hear and dismiss the Co-operative Republic of Guyana’s claims,” he said.

Refusal to recognize Court’s jurisdiction
Underscoring Venezuela’s refusal to recognize the Court’s jurisdiction, while simultaneously defending its right to present its case in the face of what she described as Guyana’s distortions of history and law, Venezuela’s Attorney General, Dr. Arianny Seijo Noguera, reaffirmed her country’s longstanding rejection of the 1899 Arbitral Award and insisted that the 1966 Geneva Agreement remains the only valid legal framework.

She said that her country’s presence before the ICJ should not be construed as acceptance of its jurisdiction. “Venezuela remains firm in its refusal to recognize the Court’s jurisdiction; therefore, its presence here does not constitute, nor should it ever be interpreted as, an acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction to rule on this territorial dispute,”
Counsel for Venezuela also argued that the Geneva Agreement replaced the colonial-era framework imposed by the 1897 Treaty of Washington and the subsequent 1899 Award. “By signing the Geneva Agreement, the parties replaced the fraudulent legal framework… with a new framework: one in which they committed to seeking satisfactory solutions for the practical resolution of the territorial dispute,” she explained.
And also stressing what Caracas has maintained, the Venezuelan Attorney General posited that the agreement was part of the decolonization process, designed not only to grant independence but also to redress injustices of territorial dispossession. “The Geneva Agreement is not merely a norm of international law, but rather the norm of international law that Venezuela and Guyana imposed upon themselves. Pacta sunt servanda,” she said.
On March 29, 2018, Guyana filed an application instituting proceedings against Venezuela concerning the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award regarding the boundary between the then-colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela.
Guyana brought the case to the ICJ to confirm the validity of the internationally recognised boundary, which was determined by the Award and by a 1905 boundary agreement with Venezuela that adhered strictly to the unanimous decision rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal. The ICJ has already affirmed its jurisdiction to hear this case twice, in judgements issued on December 18, 2020, and April 6, 2023.
The Court has also had to issue two orders, both indicating provisional measures which Guyana had requested, to prevent Venezuela from interfering with Guyana’s lawful control and administration of the territory that is the subject of the controversy while the judicial proceedings are still pending. The written phase of the case concluded last year after Guyana filed two written pleadings on the merits of the case and Venezuela also filed two, the last being in August 2025.
The merit hearings began last week and concluded on Monday with the final submissions of the Parties, made by the Agents. Guyana’s oral argument ended on Friday and Venezuela yesterday.
The ICJ will begin its deliberation and will inform both countries on that decision when it is completed.